"Thousands of years, thousands of years, thousands of years!" The people of Kucha City shouted loudly with great joy.

They were so excited. They thought the court had given up on them and allowed them to fend for themselves. When they were already desperate, they suddenly heard that a prince who had nothing to do with Anxi was going to stay in Anxi, just like a man who was about to starve to death suddenly got a bowl of rice. How could he not be grateful and excited?

Not only are ordinary people so excited, but generals, wealthy businessmen and gentry are also very excited. They may be able to avoid being massacred by the cannibals, and they can even escape to safer places such as Yiwu, Xizhou, Guazhou, etc., but if they can live safely and stay in the local area, who is willing to live humiliatedly under the cannibals or escape to other places? And Li Gong gave them hope that they would not have to escape and humiliate their lives. How could they not be excited?

In this way, Li Gong was unanimously supported and cheered by everyone in Kucha City.

When Li Gong, who was riding on the horse, could not help but feel intoxicated when he heard the shouts of "Qiansui" from both sides of the road and even further away.

‘If I could defeat the great cannibals and protect these cities in the southeast of Tianshan, I would probably be able to become a figure of the thousands of Buddhas in Anxi, and would be more popular with the people than Liu Bei, the Emperor Zhaolie of Shu Han. By then, if I wanted to do anything, what else could I do?’ he thought.

However, he soon came to his senses. Although he left two thousand more soldiers, there were still only more than six thousand in total. This was the only remaining soldiers in Anxi, not the only remaining soldiers in Kucha Town. It is still unknown whether they can defend the southeast of Tianshan. It is not too late for him to daydream after he defeated the great cannibal.

At this time, they had already arrived at the yamen of the Protectorate. Li Gong first instructed the coachman to drive the carriage to the mansion where he lived, and sent Li Bixiao over, and then quietly told the maid leader not to let her leave the mansion.

Afterwards, he turned around and said to Liu Qi and other generals, "Please ask your subordinates to bring the soldiers back to the military camp. You will follow me to the Protectorate's Mansion to discuss matters. We must seriously discuss how to resist the invasion of the great cannibals."

"Yes." Liu Qi and others agreed and ordered their generals. It would be fine if others were to do so, but Liu Qi was the most embarrassed. Most of the soldiers who were commanded by him went to the Central Plains. Now the soldiers in charge had all the soldiers in charge. There were lack of military generals, so he had to regard his personal guard as the general and temporarily command them.

"Go and invite local figures from Kucha Town to the Protectorate's Office to discuss matters." Li Gong ordered his guards.

After saying this, he turned his head and said to the people: "My people of Anxi, Datang, don't call me Qiansui, Your Highness, but call me the Great Protector! If I consider myself Qiansui of the Tang Dynasty, I will return to the Central Plains with Gao Jiedushi just now, how could I stay in Anxi?"

"It is precisely because I still remember that I still have the errand of Anxi Protectorate, who is the parent and official of all the people of Anxi, who stayed in Anxi. So you will call me the Protectorate in the future, not Qiansui."

"Master Qiansheng!" Suddenly someone shouted loudly.

"Protection of the thousand years!" Other people also shouted.

Hearing the people shouted like this, a look of surprise flashed across Li Gong's face. He probably didn't expect that the people could combine such a word. He waved at the people and walked into the yamen.

After entering the yamen, he went to the side room to change his coat, washed his face, and came to the meeting hall. After meeting with everyone, Li Gong did not talk nonsense. "Even if there were two thousand more soldiers, Anxi was still very dangerous, so I won't greet you."

"Ma Changshi."

"I'm here." The man sitting in his left hand quickly stood up.

"You immediately send an order to Yanqi Town, Quli Governor's Office, Wuleizhou, Yingsu Governor's Office... These are located east of Kucha Town, and the master's officer will transfer half of the people left behind in the city to Kucha."

"Yes." The chief minister named Ma Rong agreed.

"Liu Qi, Meng Chengkang,..., you recruited young and strong people in the city to join the camp to practice."

"Yes." The general who was named after the name also agreed immediately.

"Wang Sheng, when reinforcements from the cities in the east arrive, you will lead 1,000 troops, including 300 old soldiers and 700 new soldiers, and rush to support Bodaling and Dundo cities."

Bodaling is a pass on the Tianshan Mountains, and Dundo City is a dangerous small town near Bodaling. If you defend these two places, you will not be able to cross the Tianshan Mountains to attack the southeastern cities of the mountains.

"Yes." Wang Sheng stood up and agreed.

"Ma Changshi, after the order to dispatch troops was announced, he would have to trouble the chief to stabilize the order in the city. From noon today, if anyone gathers without permission from the government, or spreads rumors, he will be sentenced to hard labor! Merchants in the city are not allowed to raise prices, and if they find out, they will confiscate all their goods."

"Close the city gate and only open the door for three hours a day. The soldiers will be arranged to stay at the city gate to carefully inspect the people entering and leaving. If anyone dares to pass on messages to the cannibals, smuggle grain and other items out of the city, they will be arrested and interrogated."

"Extend curfew at night. Curfew is imposed for one quarter of an hour after dark every day. Those who walk on the streets violate orders will beat twenty boards!"

"….. This order is passed on to each city, and the city lords are ordered to follow it." He ordered many orders to maintain order in the city or prevent spies.

After saying this, Li Gong said again: "I really have to worry about Chief Ma, but there are very few officials left behind in the entire Protectorate Office. I don't recognize the others, so I can only hand over the errand to Chief."

Although chaos broke out in the Central Plains, everyone still believed that the Central Plains was safer than Anxi. Officials from the Central Plains, regardless of their civil and military affairs, went back with Feng Changqing, leaving only two or three kittens, and their abilities were very suspicious. Li Gong really couldn't trust them.

"I dare not say the word "troubled". My subordinates must do the job well. But," said Ma Changshi paused and said, "Is it too strict? Anxi has never had such strict rules."

"It must be stricter." Li Gong said: "The Great Cannibal suddenly sent troops to attack when Anxi was empty and empty. There were still many detailed works of the Great Cannibal in the city. The Han people may not be able to bribe them. The most stringent rules must be used to prevent the important news from spreading."

"At this time, the cannibals are about to come, and the people can understand and will not object."

"Yes." Ma Changshi thought about it, and felt that what he said was right, so he agreed.

Li Gong nodded and said to the wealthy businessman in the hall. The gentry said, "I don't need to say anything about how anxious the situation is now. However, it takes a lot of money and grain to recruit young and strong men to join the army, but the money and grain in the warehouse are insufficient (most of the grain was taken away by Feng Changqing). I said bluntly, please donate generously to support the money and grain."

"Don't worry, the Protector, we will definitely not let the army lack food and military pay. I voluntarily donate 100,000 stones of grain and tens of millions of dollars to help the army." The richest businessman in the city said in response.

In order to block the cannibalism, he also took the initiative and donated nearly half of his wealth.

When they heard this person's words, everyone else in the house was shocked. Even though they understood that the military and the government were in good fortune and bad luck at this time, few people had the courage to donate so much wealth.

But since someone donated like this, how could others be stingy? Even if the heart trembled with pain, they had to donate at least 30% of their family wealth and shouted loudly: "I am willing to donate 50,000 stones of grain and tens of millions of dollars to help the army!"

"I am willing to donate 30,000 stones of grain and 5 million to help the army."

...

"Okay, okay." Li Gong couldn't help but smile. At this moment, the wealthy businessman and the gentry had donated more than 300,000 stones of food and grass, hundreds of millions of dollars, enough for tens of thousands of people to eat for a year. After his military salary, he didn't have to worry about insufficient military funds.

"Thank you for destroying your family and helping you. I, Li Gong, here I promise that if I can defeat the great cannibals, I will definitely not treat you badly!" he said.

At the same time, he couldn't help but look at the businessman who donated the most. 'His name is Du Ming, I must repay him personally in the future.'

"The reason why the Protector and the Little Man donated so much money and food is just to defeat the great cannibals and do not ask for any subsequent rewards. And to be honest, as long as the Protector can defeat the great cannibals and defend Kucha City, it will be of great benefit to the Little Man and others without any additional compensation." Du Ming said.

"Even so, you must not be rewarded for your contributions. However, now there is no money or food, so you cannot reward you with the money or food you donated."

Li Gong paused and said, "There are many vacant official positions in Anxi now, and the Central Plains will no longer send people to fill the vacant ones." He turned his head and looked at Ma Changshi: "I still have to worry that the chief will count the vacant official positions in the Protectorate's Office and Kucha Town, and then recruit people who read and write from the local area as officials."

"Every household of you who donate money and grain can recommend people as officials. And this method must be implemented in every city in Anxi."

"Thank you, Protector." The merchant and the gentry said immediately. Li Gong nodded and asked them to retreat first.

After that, he issued several more orders, and from time to time someone stood up to promise. After a while, his order was issued, Li Gong straightened up his upper body and said to everyone with a serious expression:

"Although our Anxi army has two thousand more people, it is still very different from the Great Cannibals. The officials are locals in Anxi or have deep feelings for Anxi. They certainly do not want all parts of Anxi to suffer such tragic events as Saiye City. I hope you and I will work together to fight against the Great Food together!"

"I must do my best to help the guardian resist the great cannibalism!" everyone agreed.

"Don't forget your words just now." Li Gong nodded and said, "Please step back."

"Yes." Everyone bowed and turned around and left.

But Liu Qi just walked out of the Protectorate's Office not far from the time he suddenly called him. He turned around and recognized the person's identity before he could speak, and smiled and said, "It turns out it was Ma Shiwei. I wonder what happened to Ma Shiwei's call me?"

But he said this and suddenly understood, and said, "Is the Protector who wants to see me?"

"It's the palace, the Protector summoned the Commander Liu." said the Guard Ma.

"Take me there!" Liu Qi said immediately.

Soon, he entered the Protectorate Office again from the back door and saw Li Gong in the side room. Liu Qi was about to salute, but Li Gong immediately stepped forward to support him: "Don't be too polite when this is urgent, get up quickly."

"Liu Duwei," When Liu Qi stood up, the two of them took their seats. Li Gong also said without any greetings: "Do you think we can defend the southeast of Tianshan?"

'Why did he ask me this question?' Liu Qi was puzzled, but he still replied: "Report to the guru, the lower officials dare not speak nonsense. But the lower officials thought that before the great cannibal attack, the more soldiers and horses they mobilized, the more new recruits they trained, the more prepared they made, and the greater the possibility of defending the city."

"You are right, I am like this." Li Gong said: "No one can guarantee this matter, and I shouldn't ask others."

"You don't have to be suspicious." Li Gong saw through Liu Qi's thoughts and said to him: "The reason I asked you about this is because you are the most familiar general in the entire Anxi Protectorate's Mansion, and the other is because the Feng Jiedushi once told me that you are the most outstanding general in the entire Anxi, not because of other reasons, or just asking on a whim."

"The Protector is praised." Liu Qi hurriedly said: "How can a low-ranking official be called the best general of Anxi? In terms of the contributions he made, there are countless generals in Anxi far ahead of the lower-ranking officials; in terms of qualifications, the lower-ranking officials are far apart, so I dare not be praised by the Protector."

"You don't have to be too humble," said Li Gong. "And the reason why Feng Jiedushi thinks you are the best general in Anxi is because you have read many books and have high knowledge. You can lead troops to fight and make military achievements in person."

"Anxi has read too many people, and more people can lead troops to charge and make military achievements, but you are the only one who has both. So Feng Jieduan believes so."

"I also agree very much. In my opinion, only those who are familiar with military books, ancient battle formations, and familiar with how to fight today can propose strategies to deal with the great cannibalism. I wonder if Commander Liu taught me?"

After Li Gong said this, he looked at Liu Qi.

Liu Qi was about to say that he had no good solution, but suddenly he thought of a plan and couldn't help but start to wonder whether to say it. If the strategy he thought of was implemented now, it might not be able to be implemented smoothly.

He was hesitating, but Li Gong had already seen that he seemed to have thought of a plan and asked again: "I wonder what Commander Liu Du thought? Can you tell me, let's take a look at it together?"

"This is not to be hiding from the protection of the people, the subordinates did think of a plan. But this plan may not be implemented smoothly at the moment." Liu Qi said.

"Whether it can be implemented or not, you can say it out."

"This," Liu Qi hesitated for a moment before saying, "Since that's the case, the junior official will tell you this strategy and discuss it with His Highness."
Chapter completed!